Wide-eyed, sweet and innocent ... yes it really is Kate Moss! Rare pictures of the supermodel's first ever shoot go under the hammer but sell for just £5700

Supermodel Kate Moss was famously scouted as a fourteen-year-old school girl in 1988 as she sat waiting to board a flight at JFK airport.

Now three photographs of the model's first sitting that same year have been revealed and they raised £5,700 at auction this afternoon at Bloomsbury Auctions in London.

The black and white hand-printed images by photographer David Ross show a fresh-faced, fluffy-haired young Kate smiling in a sweatshirt in her first test shoot under the guidance of her new agent, Storm boss Sarah Doukas.

Photographs of a fourteen-year-old Kate Moss in her first sitting are being auctioned today

Kate is also pictured looking in to the camera wearing a black shirt featuring a grandad collar and showing off the bone structure that would go on to earn her millions.

Less than £6,000 might not seem much for a model worth millions, but the black and white gelatin silver prints actually raised £4,500 more than was anticipated and experts are claiming that this performance at auctionis evidence of the value collectors attach to important items from a famous figure's formative years.

The collection had a £1,200 high estimate and was sold for
£3,200, £1,500 and £1,000 respectively.

The leading figure (up 166.6% on estimate) was achieved by the never-before-seen picture of Kate looking piercingly at the camera.

Kate recently admitted to Vanity Fair that she hated earlier pictures of herself, but Ross has called her 'refreshingly honest'.

In a lot description on the Bloomsbury Auctions website he said: 'Kate was a cool character. She seemed like a tough or resilient typical teenager, comfortably fronting me up, perhaps covering up her nerves… I suppose what was refreshing was that she was honest.

'She wasn't trying to prove anything or act above her station. She didn't try to adopt a model attitude of self-absorption and superiority, which at the time was becoming public via media sensation.

'She was untarnished. A blank canvas, as other writers have put it.'

David Ross, 47, described the Croydon clothes horse as 'refreshingly honest' although Moss recently admitting she hated her early pictures

Ross, 47 and now an actor, did not attend the auction.

Prior
to the pictures going under the hammer he said: 'I have no expectations
of what they might raise, possibly nobody will want to buy them.

'It is the first time I have printed them though and so I am very interested to see what happens.'

This week 38-year-old Kate has been busy promoting her first book Kate: The Kate Moss book.

In Paris on Tuesday the model, looking chic in head-to-to-black, was accused of shunning fans who had waited for over twelve hours to see her after her security banned photographs.

Despite the book being filled with images of the Croydon-born model her burly security team demanded that she wasn’t bothered by happy snappers on the day: 'Very few pictures please – she doesn’t like it,' they told waiting fans.

And an announcement over loud speaker confirmed that she would only autograph copies of her book.

'Yes it’s true these pictures I
produced were the first test shots of Kate Moss after Sarah Doukas
discovered her on the way back from holiday in JFK. Kate landed on my
doorstep fresh up from Croydon during her half term break on October
26th 1988.

'Today I am an actor, and
passionate about my craft but I spent the late 80’s / early 90s printing
images and taking photographs. In fact, since my teens I worked more
for than 20 years professionally and I’m born of a family of
photographers and artists going back to the 1930s in Dublin, Ireland. I
still reserve the same passion for portraiture.

'I have made portraits of a many
actors and performers as well as models and I am addicted to exploring
their character and to bringing out the best in them. It’s the search
for the truth that inspires me.

'When I met Kate and photographed her
all those years ago, there was a unique sparkle to her which was bound
to evolve into something special, although I had no idea how much at the
time. I was very young myself and I just wanted to do my best for
Sarah, her agent.

'Today, these pictures are very
special as they portray her at the absolute threshold of her life
changing forever. They are very special to me as they mark unique
moments in time and history and this is the first time I have ever
printed them to present to the world.

'I have the utmost respect and
admiration for Kate and her wonderful success which is incredibly well
deserved, while she has had to work hard from such a young age and learn
very quickly. She has survived an incredible run of pressure to perform
almost without relent. She has climbed to the top of her profession
overcoming every obstacle

Ross said: 'When I met Kate and photographed her all those years ago there was a unique sparkle to her which was bound to evolve into something special, although I had no idea how much at the time'

'Nobody can say she has had it easy
that’s for sure and I can guarantee you it takes a certain character
and stamina to endure what she has had to take on. As an actor I
appreciate her artistry. Few people realise the depth of the role of a
model and I find this very disappointing. The office dreamers and
critiques have no idea what is expected of a professional artiste or
model with no complaint and as far as I’m aware Kate has never
complained.

'I would absolutely love to meet
Kate again. I would feel quite privileged in fact. Wow, just the thought
of being able to ask her how much she remembers of our meeting and her
first experience and what she remembers of her thinking at the time
would be fascinating! To hear and understand from Kate herself, as
opposed to the books and press we have both contributed to, voluntarily
or not, and heard through, whether we’ve looked or not – to listen to
the true extent of her journey from where she sat with me all those
years ago, would be very special indeed.

This week Moss has been promoting her new coffee table book, Kate: The Kate Moss Book in Paris